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Municipal Reference Bulletin No. 8 
REPORT ON THE 

More Economic Distribution 
and Delivery of Milk 

IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO 

By the 

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH 
CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL 



Alderman Willis 0. Nance, Chairman 

Aid. Michael Kenna 
Aid. Joseph B. McDonough 
Aid. John N. Kimball 
Aid. Charles V. Johnson 
Aid. E. F. Cullerton 
Aid. Thomas J. Ahern 
Aid. George M. Maypole 
Aid. Edward J. Eaindl 
Aid. Stanley H. Kimz 
Aid. Stanley Adamkiewicz 
Aid. Henry L. Fick 
Aid. Earl J. Walker 
Aid. George Pretzel 
Aid. Robert R. Pegram 




DECEMBER, 1917 

MUNICIPAL REFERENCE LIBRARY 

CITY OF CHICAGO 

1005 City Hall 

Frederick Rex, Librarian 



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Class S,F^S 



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Municipal Reference Bulletin No. 8 
REPORT ON THE 

More Economic Distribution 
and Delivery of Milk 

IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO 

By the 

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH 
CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL 



Alderman Willis 0. Nance, Chairman 

Aid. Michael Kenna 

Aid. Joseph B. McDonough 

Aid. John N. Kimball 

Aid. Charles V. Johnson 

Aid. E. F. Cullerton 

Aid. Thomas J. Ahern 

Aid. George M. Maypole 

Aid. Edward J. Kaindl 

Aid. Stanley H. Kunz 

Aid. Stanley Adamkiewicz 

Aid. Henry L. Fick 

Aid. Earl J. Walker 

Aid. George Pretzel 

Aid. Robert R. Pegram 



DECEMBER, 1917 
C/i « € a cf o . MUNICIPAL REFERENCE LIBRARY 

CITY OF CHICAGO 

1005 City Hall 

Frederick Rex, Librarian 



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B. of D. 

JAN 29 1918 



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Introduction. 

In view of the widespread public interest in the production, distribution 
and cost of milk, it is the hope that the report of the Committee on Health of 
the City Council may aid in promoting and affording a basis for constructive 
effort in solving certain important features of the milk problem in a satisfac- 
tory manner and with due regard to the interests of the consumer, the producer 
and the middleman. WILLIS 0. NANCE, Chairman, 

Committee on Health, Chicago City Council. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page 

Food Value of Milk 5 

The Problem Before the Committee : 6 

Price of Milk in City 6 

Cost of Milk Delivery in Chicago " 7 

Milk Prices in Other Cities : 8 

Ordinance Providing for Consolidation of Milk Delivery Routes 10 

Duplication of Delivery Routes Means Economic Waste . 11 

Producers' Co-operative Societies 11 

Municipal Milk Stations 12 

Co-operation of Consumer ,, 13 

Recommendations 13 



December 3, 1917. 
To the Honorable, the Mayor, and City Council of the City of Chicago: 

Gentlemen: — The Committee on Health of the Chicago City Council here- 
with respectfully submits for your consideration the following report on a 
communication referred to it on October 15, 1917, by your Honorable Body 
from Dr. David Reeder, calling attention to the waste of man and horse power 
in the delivery of milk and food products, and suggesting a co-operative system 
of delivery. 

Your Committee held public hearings on the foregoing subject on Novem- 
ber 1, 15 and 22, 1917, at which were heard public officials, representatives of 
the producers, distributors and consumers; of labor organizations, civic bodies 
and the Illinois State Council of Defense, in part, as follows: 

Mr. J. A. Fitzpatrick, Borden Dairy Company. 

Mr. F. A. Webb, Borden Dairy Company. 

Mr. R. Bowman, J. Bowman Dairy Company. 

Mr. Wm. B. Moulton, City Club of Chicago. 

Mr. Ira Mix, Mix Dairy Company. 

Dr. David H. Reeder. 

Mr. Stephen C. Sumner, Milk Wagon Drivers' Union. 

Mrs. George W. Plummer, Secretary, Woman's Committee Council of 
National Defense. 

Mr. George E. Hooker, Secretary, City Club of Chicago. 

Mr. Thomas W. Allinson, Henry Booth Settlement House. 

Miss Margaret B. Dobyne, Political Equality League. 

Miss Amelia Sears, Woman's City Club. 

Hon. John Dill Robertson, Commissioner of Health. 

Dr. Gottfried Koehler, Assistant Commissioner of Health. 

Mr. Chester E. Cleveland, Assistant Corporation Counsel. 

Mr. George A. Curran, Assistant Corporation Counsel. 

Mr. Frederick Rex, Municipal Reference Librarian. 

Food Value of Milk. 

Probably no other single commodity has engaged the attention of public 
health and other officials in the past decade to the same extent as has the effi- 
cient safe-guarding of the milk supply of the people. There is no other food 
which so generally enters into the diet of the masses, or is comparable with it 
in value for invalids or as a more efficient substitute for mother's milk as a 
food for babies. It has been estimated that milk and its products, such as 
butter, cream, cheese, ice cream, buttermilk and skim-milk, are among the 
most important articles used for human food and constitute over 16 per cent 
of the food used by civilized man. 

Milk furnishes all the elements essential for the sustaining of life and the 
growth of the body. Proper nutrition conduces to efficiency and long life — in 
other words to good health. No other single food product is at once so nour- 
ishing and digestible for both infants and adults. Milk, accordingly, should be 
adequately safe-guarded to ensure a wholesome supply and be cheap in price 
in order that it may at all times be within reach of the economically weaker 
part of the population. 

In comparing the cost of the following articles we readily see the nutri- 
tive values and advantages of milk: 

One quart of milk costing 12 cents is equal in value to — 

Three-quarters pound beefsteak cost 20 cents 

Three-fifths pound ham cost 27 cents 

Eight eggs cost 36 cents 

Two pounds chicken cost 56 cents 

Four-fifths pound pork chops cost 24 cents 

Three pounds fresh codfish cost 72 cents 

One pint oysters cost 30 cents 

5 



The Problem Before the Committee. 

The questions facing your Committee at the beginning of its investigation 
on November 1st were whether the people of Chicago would have to pay war 
prices for milk and whether Chicago could obtain milk at all. Milk dealers 
and distributors asserted that they had been unable to meet the milk prices 
demanded by the producers and that unless some adjustment could be made at 
once to meet the emergency the city would be without milk in a short time. 
The producers insisted that unless a larger price is paid they cannot afford to 
continue the production of milk, not only because of the increased cost of 
fodder, but because it would be more profitable to sell their cattle and convert 
their land to other uses. Due to increased food costs farmers are apparently 
yielding to the temptation of high prices offered by the cattle buyers purchasing 
for slaughter, by sacrificing their dairy cows and calves. The acuteness of the 
Chicago milk situation was well described by Mr. Ira J. Mix, President of the 
Mix Dairy Company, at a public hearing before your Committee on November 
1st, in the following words: 

"What are we offering? Well, anything we can buy it for. I 
offered $3.00, and when we could not get it for $3.00 I offered $3.21, 
and we did not get any for $3.21. They want $3.42. We have no pros- 
pects of getting milk. I do not think we will get any milk tomorrow. 
We have a lot of surplus milk or we would not have enough to go 
around tomorrow morning. If something is not done inside of 24 hours 
there will not be any milk in Chicago inside of twenty-four hours, 
after tomorrow." 

Inquiries already made and still under way among families of the poor 
by nurses and doctors of the Department of Health, by charitable organiza- 
tions and other social agencies indicate that the use of milk has been decidedly 
restricted because of the increased price. This decrease in the use of milk has 
occurred precisely among those elements in the community where the health and 
development of children depend largely upon the generous use of milk. Again, 
mothers for the sake of economy, have bought for their children milk of a 
lower quality than is considered safe infant food. By reason of the high price 
of milk the quantity used by infants and children has been reduced below the 
minimum which the best medical authorities consider necessary for the mainte- 
nance of health. To this practice may be attributable the notable increase in 
the number of deaths from diarrhoea! diseases in children under one year of 
age in certain sections of Chicago. Your Committee was therefore confronted 
with a situation wherein the total supply of the city's milk was threatened 
with possible reduction; as well as a substantial increase in price and a greatly 
lessened demand on the part of the consumer, endangering the lives of helpless 
infants and children. 



Price of Milk in City. 

The farmer is unable to carry his milk to the door of the consumer in a 
great city like Chicago. The consumer similarly is unable to go to the farm 
for his supply and we have, therefore, a distributor or middleman performing 
this function. In Chicago distribution is attended to by an independent agency, 
but there is no reason why this service cannot be under the control of the 
consumer and of the producer, or both. If the distributor renders an economic 
and efficient service to the community, he is as much entitled to reward for the 
time and capital devoted to that service as the man who produces the goods; 
but when the number of middlemen multiply themselves needlessly and become 
manipulators and speculators to the detriment of both consumer and producer 
alike, the distributor becomes an economic burden, holding producer and con- 
sumer at his mercy. The consumer is loath to believe that the price of milk is 
based on supply and demand, for experience tells him, or her, that the volume of 
milk produced has no appreciable influence on the price; whether scarce or 
plenty; whether the weather be hot or cold; in winter and in summer; the con- 
sumer pays the same high level. 

6 



According to a statement submitted to your Committee by the Honorable 
John Dill Robertson, Commissioner of Health, an investigation conducted under 
his direction revealed that the following were the prevailing prices for a quart 
of milk to the consumer during the past ten years: 

November 18, 1907 7 to 8 cents 

March 2, 1908 8 to 7 cents 

November 1, 1909 7 to 8 cents 

April 21, 1916 8 to 9 cents 

April 1, 1917 9 to 10 cents 

October 1, 1917 10 to 13 cents 

During the six months prior to October 1, 1917, the retail price of milk 
was 10 cents and the producer was paid at the average rate of $2.12 per 100 
lbs., or at the rate of 4.37 cents a quart. This left a margin of 5.63 cents to 
the dealer for the cost of handling and profits. During the month of October 
of the present year the producer received $3.42 for 100 lbs., or 7.07 cents a quart, 
an increase of 61.3 per cent per 100 lbs. The producer demanded this increased 
price, claiming that his demands were justified on account of the high price of 
cattle, fodder and labor, and the sharp increase in the demand for milk due to 
the demand for the condensed product. On November 2d an adjustment was 
reached between the producers and the distributors, whereby the former were 
paid $3.22 per 100 lbs. for milk, thus permitting it to be retailed at 12 cents 
a quart. 

The excessive cost of milk is a matter of vital importance to the community. 
The public health is endangered when children and invalids are deprived of an 
adequate milk supply on account of a prohibitive price. According to Dr. Rob- 
ertson: "a price of 13 cents a quart makes it practically impossible for the av- 
erage wage earner to purchase the amount of milk necessary for a family of 
three or four small children. Even if babies deprived of mother's milk are al- 
lowed a sufficient quantity of cow's milk there is great danger of children be- 
tween one and five years of age not securing sufficient quantities of milk neces- 
sary for their proper nourishment." 

Cost of Milk Delivery in Chicago. 

It is admitted that the present inefficient system of delivery is an element 
of great importance in the price of milk to the consumer. Estimates have been 
made that the handling and delivery of milk represent considerably over 50 per 
cent of the total cost. Figures compiled by the Chicago Health Department 
indicate that the delivery cost of a quart of milk from the city plant to the 
consumer is 3^4 cents, not including depreciation on wagons and other over- 
head costs. It is probable that a substantial reduction of this delivery cost 
could be effected if the present system of making milk deliveries could be 
abolished. The serving of a single apartment house by half a dozen milk com- 
panies, each with its own delivery wagon, is an obviously wasteful method. 
Estimates were presented to the Committee that retail prices could be reduced 
at least two cents a quart if a system of co-operative deliveries by which one 
delivery wagon would serve an entire district could be established. 

From figures collected by the Bureau of Food Inspection and submitted 
to your Committee by the Honorable John Dill Robertson, Commissioner of 
Health, it appears that 5.93 cents, which represent during the seven months 
prior to November 1, 1917, approximately the difference between the pre- 
vailing retail price and the price paid to the producer, per quart, are charge- 
able to the following items: 

Pasteurization and cooling, per quart $0.0030 

Transportation from country — average 0050 

Bottles— loss of, etc 0025 

Refrigeration, icing, etc 0017 

Cost of delivery 0325 

Total 0.0447 

7 



Leaving the amount of 0146 

for other minor items of expense, loss in collection 

and profits $0.0593 

Paid to producer 0.0707 



Total retail price $0.1300 

The cost of delivery stands, next to the amount paid to the producer, as 
the largest single item making up the price paid for milk by the consumer. 
One is, therefore, led to inquire if our present methods of milk delivery, with 
the prevailing duplication of service, overlapping of territory and consequent 
waste, are not unnecessarily expensive and an imposition on the consumer. 
Dr. Robertson called attention to the recent merging of one milk concern in 
the city of Chicago, running 30 wagons, with another operating 30 wagons in 
the same territory, whereby it was possible to reduce the combined number of 
vehicles required for delivery by 18 on account of the elimination of duplicate 
wagons and drivers covering the same ground or area. It was estimated by 
a member of your Committee that a saving of $20,000 a day could be made to 
the consumer if a consolidation and unification of the various milk delivery 
systems were effected in the city of Chicago. Practically all representatives of 
distributors of milk appearing before your Committee agreed that it would be 
entirely practical to consolidate the delivery of milk by having this function 
performed by central and co-operative milk distributing agencies acting as a 
common carrier for the various companies and concerns engaged in the milk 
business in the city. 

Such co-operative organization for the delivery of milk to the consumer 
would be but similar to numerous like organizations effected in a large num- 
ber of cities in the United States among dealers in food supplies, groceries, 
meat markets, merchandise and other commodities. The only basis on which 
the lack of a similar initiative among milk distributors in this city can be ex- 
plained is that the latter have not been able or seen fit to avail themselves of 
the opportunities offered to economize. They have been unable to get together 
and consider whether such a unification of delivery would be to their advantage 
and interest. 



Milk Prices in Other Cities. 

It was clearly brought out in the hearings before your Committee that the 
great need of the milk business is the improvement of the processes of its dis- 
tribution and delivery. The production, sanitary handling and transportation 
of milk have been brought to a high plane of excellence. The problem, how- 
ever, of the present day is to lessen the cost of bringing the milk from the re- 
ceiving depot of the distributor to the home of the consumer with the utmost 
economy. Fortunately it is apparent that nearly all large cities are now care- 
fully studying this matter. 

As a means of comparing the retail price of a quart of milk prevailing in 
the city of Chicago, your committee obtained from 29 other cities in the United 
States statements showing the retail price per quart, the price paid producers 
by distributors per 100 lbs. and the average daily consumption of milk in quarts. 

From the statistics given below it appears that in 3 cities the retail price 
per quart of milk during the past week was 14 cents; in 7 cities 13 cents; in 
12 cities, including Chicago, 12 cents; in 5 cities 11 cents; and in 3 cities the 
price charged was 10 cents. In Minneapolis the State Public Safety Commis- 
sion on November 15th fixed the retail price of milk at 10 cents per quart, the 
milkmen being required to zone their routes in order to prevent overlapping. 

Of the cities where the producer was paid the same price as in Chicago by 
the distributor — $3.22 per 100 lbs. — the consumer paid 14 cents per quart in 
East St. Louis; 13 cents in St. Louis and Aurora, 111.; 12 cents in Chicago, Phila- 
delphia, Fort Wayne and Rockford, 111.; 11 cents in Elgin, 111., and 10 cents in 
Belvidere, 111. Notwithstanding that the distributor paid .to the producer $3.36 
per 100 lbs. in Cleveland; $3.58 in Joliet, 111.; $3.50 in Los Angeles and Kansas 
City, Mo., and $3.30 in Milwaukee and Wheaton, 111., the price per quart to the 

8 



$3.22 


130,000 


0.30(a) 


140,000 


2.85(b) 


500,000(c) 


2.40 to $2.60 


50,000 


3.40 


120,000 


2.40(d) 


9,984 


3.22 


15,000 


35% milk, (c) Pounds. 


(d) Per 8-gal- 



consumer in the first four cities was not higher than that prevailing in Chicago, 
where the producer receives but $3.22 per 100 lbs. and only 11 cents per quart 
in the last two cities. 

Cities Having Retail Price of 14 Cents per Quart. 

Price Paid 

to Producer No. of Quarts 

Retail Price by Distributor Consumed 

per Quart per Cwt. Daily 

New York City $0.14(a) $3.44(b) 1,600,000 

Des Moines, la 0.14 3.50 240,000 

East St. Louis, 111 0.14 . 3.22 10,000 

NOTES — (a) Grade B loose market milk sold at 10 and 11 cents per quart, 
(b) Shipped from points within 150 miles; milk 3% butter fat; 4 cents additional 
for each 1/10 point butter fat above 3%. 

Cities Having Retail Price of 13 Cents per Quart. 

St. Louis, Mo $0.13 

Baltimore, Md 0.13 

Pittsburgh, Pa 0.13 

Louisville, Ky 0.13 

Toledo, 0.13 

Gary, Ind 0.13 

Aurora, 111 0.13 

NOTES— (a) Per gallon, (b) For 
Ion can. 

Cities Having Retail Price of 12 Cents per Quart. 

Chicago $0.12 $3.22 1,250,000 

Philadelphia 0-.12 3.22 550,000 

Detroit, Mich 0.12 2.78 340,000 

Cleveland, 0.12 3.36 240,000 

Los Angeles, Calif 0.12(a) 3.50(b) 104,000 

Cincinnati, 0.12 3.00 110,000 

Kansas City, Mo 0.12 3.50 80,000 

Omaha, Neb 0.12 3.12. 65,000 

Fort Wayne, Ind 0.12 3.22 

Rockford, 111 0.12 3.22 20,000 

Kankakee, 111 0.12 3.00 2,000 

Joliet, 111 0.12 3.58 12,500 

NOTES— (a) For grade A milk. Guaranteed milk, 14 cents, (b) 4% butter 
fat. $3.20 per cwt. for 4% grade B milk. 

Cities Having Retail Price of 11 Cents per Quart. 

Milwaukee, Wis $0.11 $3.30 160,000 

Dayton, 0.11 3.00(a) . 32,000 

South Bend, Ind . 0.11 0.25(b) 13,000 

Elgin, 111 0.11(c) 3.22 * 

Wheaton, 111 0.11(d) 3.30 1,500 

NOTES — (a) 4% milk. Price increased or decreased 3^ cents per cwt. for 
every 1/10% of butter fat above or below 4%. (b) Per gallon, (c) Home 
dairies are selling at 10 and 11 cents, (d) One producer retails milk to con- 
sumer at 9 cents. 

P 



Cities Having Retail Price of 10 Cents per Quart. 

Price Paid 

to Producer No. of Quarts 

Retail Price by Distributor Consumed 
per Quart per Cwt. Daily 

Minneapolis, Minn $0.10(a) $2.78 140,000 

Indianapolis, Ind 0.10 0.57(b) 72,000 

Belvidere, 111 0.10 3.22 1,300 

NOTES — (a) Price fixed by State Public Safety Commission on November 
15th. (b) Per pound of butter fat. 

Ordinance Providing for Consolidation of Milk Delivery Routes. 

The tentative ordinance submitted to your committee by the Honorable 
John Dill Robertson, Commissioner of Health, contemplates the licensing of 
milk dealers and stores which engage in the business indicated by their names, 
but which would not, under the proposed licensing system, have the right to 
engage in the delivery of milk. The ordinance also provides for the division 
of the city by the city council into territories or zones, once every ten years, 
such territories or zones not to exceed 100 in number, for the purpose of milk 
delivery. The ordinance further provides for the licensing of milk delivery 
companies and fixes a license fee of $100.00; authorizes the granting of such 
a license to the milk delivery company offering to make deliveries in such zones 
at the lowest cost per unit, for a period of one year, subject to renewal an- 
nually for nine years thereafter and places the power of revocation of a license 
in the Mayor. It would be the duty of every milk delivery company thus 
licensed to deliver milk for any and all milk dealers selling milk to the con- 
sumers in the territory covered by the license. The milk delivery company 
would maintain a receiving station to which all milk would be delivered by the 
milk dealers for delivery to their respective customers, without discrimination, 
on pain of revocation of license. In order to allow ample time to bring 
about the planned readjustment among dealers and stores the proposed ord- 
inance would not be effective iintil January 1, 1919. 

Certain prominent milk dealers in Chicago have stated that the above 
ordinance, or one drawn along the same lines, would reduce the cost of 
delivery one-half, according to Dr. Gottfried Koehler, Assistant Commissioner 
of Health, "if they could deliver all the milk along one street, or in one build- 
ing, or in one district. It costs now about from 3^4 to 3% cents a quart for 
the delivery of milk and they said they could reduce it one-half, or at least 
2 cents a quart." It was asserted before your committee that the average 
time for delivery to a customer is two minutes. If the average driver is mak- 
ing only 150 deliveries he is really working about 5 hours only, delivering 
milk. The rest of the time he is collecting or soliciting new business. The 
proposed delivery system outlined in the ordinance will eliminate the duties 
of salesman and bookkeeper from the duties of the driver, the latter then 
becoming merely a deliverer. Commenting on the above ordinance Mr. 
Stephen C. Sumner, of the Milk Wagon Drivers' Union, said: "If you have a 
law where there is one delivery, that is the thing to bring about. If you can 
make this proposed ordinance stick you can make municipal ownership stick, 
or make them pool their interests together. The idea of ten men going into one 
building is wrong." 

The problem of milk distribution in large cities is difficult, but the 
organization of the milkmen operating in one section of the city into a dis- 
tributing agency would cure many ills and bring about cheaper delivery. In 
this time of soaring prices all recommendations for handling food products 
must be taken into consideration and in the milk industry a concentration of 
distributive machinery is of great economic importance. It is almost crimin- 
ally wasteful to have certain portions of the city visited by half a dozen delivery 
teams when one could do the work as well. The public authorities — federal, 
state and municipal — should aid in eliminating the many and the substitution 

10 



of a few milk routes in the city of Chicago. It is admitted that there is con- 
siderable waste in the delivery of milk to the consumer under the present sys- 
tem, due to the large amount of duplication and interweaving of routes, and 
the opportunity for the introduction of economies through their combination 
and orderly arrangement is probably greater than is afforded in connection 
with the delivery of any other single important foodstuff. 

By way of contrast one has but to instance the mail distributing system 
employed by the federal post office department. Here one mail carrier de- 
livers mail to all residents in the neighborhood to which he is assigned with 
promptitude and regularity and without duplication or overlapping of any 
sort whatever. It would be ridiculous to imagine three or four carriers de- 
livering mail in one street at different times of the day to the same people re- 
siding there. However, this absurdity is a common occurrence in the distri- 
bution of milk and other food products. 

Duplication of Delivery Routes Means Economic Waste. . 

In an investigation recently made in the state of Maassachusetts the 
economic waste through duplication of milk routes was evident in all the towns 
and cities visited. From personal observation, at an apartment house con- 
taining four families, three milkmen called to deliver 4 quarts of milk; at 
another fourth floor tenement three different milkmen climb four flights every 
day to deliver 6 pints to four families. Between the hours of 3 A. M. and 
7 A. M. 42 milk wagons were observed to pass down Bowdoin street in Wor- 
cester; only one failed to deposit milk within a distance of 400 yards from the 
observer. Similar conditions were found in all other towns and cities visited. 

In Worcester 103 one-horse milk wagons and 62 two-horse wagons aver- 
age approximately 8% miles per wagon per day; the 64 Worcester retail routes 
considered in this study aggregate 565 miles of 8.83 miles per route. Eight 
and one-half miles is probably a conservative estimate for approximately 
265 milk wagons distributing milk daily in Worcester. The total public street 
mileage within the city limits is 220, but several miles are practically unoc- 
cupied. These milk wagons cover approximately 2,250 miles daily to supply the 
houses on less than 220 miles of streets. Probably they travel 10 to 14 times 
the populated street mileage every day. A survey of the cost of distributing 
milk in the city of Rochester disclosed that 356 men and in many cases their 
families were engaged therein, as well as 380 horses and 305 wagons, the lat- 
ter traveling 2,509 miles. There was invested $76,600 in milk room equip- 
ment; $106,000 in horses and wagons, representing a daily cost of distribution of 
$2,000 or a yearly cost of distribution amounting to $720,000. Under a model 
system it was estimated that the milk supplied to consumers in Rochester 
could be distributed by 90 men and 80 horses and 25 horse-drawn trucks travel- 
ing a total of 300 miles. There would be equipment costing $40,000 for one 
sanitary plant; a $30,750 equipment of horses and trucks with an estimated 
daily cost of distribution of $600, or an estimated yearly cost of distribution 
amounting to $220,000. 

Duplication of delivery routes is common to all retail business, but in a 
number of large cities measures have been taken to> overcome this waste 
through central delivery agencies, where the parcels are assembled, sorted 
and delivered regularly. The first concern of the consumer is to get a plen- 
tiful regular supply of good, wholesome milk at the lowest possible cost. The 
consumer's ultimate interest is best served, however, by seeing that a fair and 
reasonable price is paid to the producer, in order that the farmer may be 
fairly prosperous and amply recompensed for his production of milk, and thus 
be enabled to furnish a regular and steady supply to the consumer at a fair 
cost. 

Producers' Co-operative Societies. 

One obvious suggestion for reducing the margin between wholesale and 
retail milk prices is that there be a central agency for distributing this 

11 



commodity by the unification and consolidation of delivery routes in order 
to prevent duplication. In the distribution of milk much is possible as a 
means of effecting economies if the nearby producers can get together, dis- 
trict the city to preclude duplication of routes and decide on a uniformity of 
product. Such co-operative organizations have demonstrated their usefulness 
in a number of states of the Union. Certain localities in New York and Mas- 
sachusetts have given up milk shipments and built co-operative creameries and 
cheese factories. Is it beyond reason to believe that co-operative milk depots, 
built and maintained by farmers and handled by well paid experts, which will 
distribute efficiently and economically a uniform grade of pure milk and cream 
for which an organized group of farmers or producers is responsible, will 
sooner or later be developed to supply neighboring cities ? Under co-operative 
organizations of producers there would be a single and identical delivery to 
consumers, milk would be standardized so that one bottle of milk would be 
just as desirable as any other bottle of the same grade and there would be 
little reason to continue the present wasteful method. Such co-operation be- 
tween producers would effect many savings and would assist materially not only 
in more economical distribution to the householder, but in the prevention of 
periodic seasons of glut and shortage. 

After all is said, the final adequate solution of milk distribution will come 
only through municipal delivery or the organization of producing distributors. 
A cooperative milk plant, owned and managed by dairymen, is very feasible 
and, it is believed, would solve most, if not all of the problems of economical 
and adequate supply. The dairymen supplying a large percentage of the milk 
of Erie, Pa., have owned and operated their own plant for years. They handle 
milk, cream, and ice cream and not only distribute an excellent quality of milk 
at low cost, but turn over to the producer a much larger percentage of the con- 
sumer's price than he ordinarily obtains. Their success commends their meth- 
ods to the attention of progressive distributors. The American Commission on 
Agricultural Co-operation and Rural Credit in Europe cites the experience of 
the city of Turin, Italy, with its milk supply. There is an agreement among 
the dairymen immediately surrounding the city by which they agree to divide 
up the city into sections, each group of farmers delivering direct to a distrib- 
uting station in one section of the city. Motor trucks make the round of each 
dairyman's district, collecting the milk and carrying it to the corresponding 
distributing station, where it is bottled and delivered to the consumers by 
women and boys at a price of four cents per quart. This is the lowest price for 
milk that has been observed anywhere in Europe and it is largely due to the 
system of organization prevailing in the distribution system. 

It will thus be seen that savings in the distribution of milk and other food 
products have been effected by co-operation among producers. Producers' co- 
operative societies and organizations thus far have made but little headway in 
the United States. Their possibilities are such that they should receive public 
encouragement wherever practicable. The present laws of the state of Illinois 
governing the organization of co-operative societies should be amended and 
strengthened for this purpose. 

Municipal Milk Stations. 

It was urged upon your committee by the Woman's committee of the Coun- 
cil of National Defense for Illinois, as well as by the Mothers' League, that the 
city council provide for the establishment of municipal milk stations. > As an 
emergency measure the Board of Directors of the Municipal Tuberculosis Sani- 
tarium has opened the first of a series of milk distributing stations in con- 
nection with the tuberculosis dispensary at Schiller and Sedgwick streets, 
bottled milk being sold to the poor at the cost price of 10 cents per quart. 

Convenient and suitable places in congested districts in Chicago should 
be established, where milk can be procured by the consumer in bottles or in 
bulk. Other premises and locations such as schools, settlement houses, hos- 
pitals, dispensaries, and police stations, as well as milk stores and distributors' 
depots could properly be used for the sale of milk direct to the consumer who 
may prefer this method of obtaining his milk and thus save the cost of deliv- 

12 



ery. It is urged by your committee that the Federal Food Administrator for Ill- 
inois provide a milk station or stations in the city of Chicago, where small cus- 
tomers can be supplied. Such public milk stations have been put into opera- 
tion in a number of European cities since the outbreak of the war with beneficial 
results to the consumer. 

Co-operation of Consumer. 

In view of the constantly increasing cost of milk everything should be 
done to prevent waste, particularly the waste and accompanying danger aris- 
ing from the insanitary, unlawful and improper use and care of milk bottles 
by consumers. A large waste takes place at the present time and is due to the 
non-return of bottles as well as to unusable bottles that are returned. Many 
misused bottles are in such condition when given back to the dealer that they 
cannot be economically cleaned and consequently must be destroyed at a cost 
amounting annually to thousands of dollars. Consumers can help keep down 
the rising cost of living by using milk bottles for milk only; washing them as 
soon as emptied and promptly returning them to the dealer. A small reduction 
can be made in the cost of milk if the present ordinance were amended by the 
city council prohibiting the use of milk bottles for purposes other than milk 
delivery and their compulsory return to the distributor, and strictly enforced. 
Quart milk bottles now cost approximately six and one-half cents. Because of 
the high cost of similar receptacles there has been a great temptation on the 
part of many consumers to use milk bottles for canning purposes. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Recommendation No. 1. The whole question of effective public regula- 
tion and control of milk distribution and prices involves broader powers than 
the city council of Chicago is authorized to exercise. The city council cannot 
reach the milk producer and is therefore unable to handle the situation or 
problem as a whole. It is the recommendation of your committee that the en- 
tire matter, in order to .be handled effectively, and concretely, be referred 
to the Federal Food Administrator for the state of Illinois for adequate and 
summary treatment. The latter has the power to regulate and control the 
producer as well as the other various factors and interests engaged in the pro- 
duction, handling and distribution of the milk supply. The Federal Food Ad- 
ministrator also has the power to fix and regulate prices, eliminate waste and 
effect other needful economies in the milk industry. In order to relieve the 
dissatisfaction existing among consumers in the city of Chicago over the price 
of milk the Federal Food Administrator for the state of Illinois should, through 
the regional federal milk commission recently appointed by him for the Chi- 
cago metropolitan area, determine and fix, after affording a hearing to the 
various interests concerned, the reasonable and fair price of milk to be paid by 
distributors to producers and by consumers to distributors. By this means, it 
is the hope of your Committee, a decrease in the price of this vital commodity 
will be effected for the benefit of the consuming public. Such a result should 
be possible by co-operation and economies that will be fair to all the interests 
engaged in the production of milk. Any increased burden to the consuming 
public, especially to the poor, already groaning under and heavily burdened 
by the high cost of living, is unthinkable and should be avoided, unless we are 
ready to admit that the competitive system has broken down and is a failure. 

Recommendation No. 2. The Federal Food Administrator of the State of 
Illinois is urged to consider the advisability of establishing a single milk dis- 
tributing system under a grant of franchise or franchises, or otherwise. Any 
such franchise should be granted on terms which place in the hands of the 
Federal Food Administrator, or of the city council of Chicago, absolute control 
over profits and the power to determine and fix a reasonable and fair charge 
for the services rendered, as well as reserve to such public authorities full and 
ample power for a strict regulation of the milk industry by compelling econo- 
mies made possible through the establishment of a zone delivery system. 

13 



Recommendation No. 3. As a means of encouraging and causing dealers 
and distributors to provide a single, unified and consolidated milk delivery 
service in the city of Chicago, the Federal Food Administrator for the State 
of Illinois is herewith requested to organize co-operative societies of producers 
of milk and to regulate, supervise, control and fix the prices charged by such 
organizations. Such producers' co-operative societies should be given the sole 
right to deliver milk to the consumer in all zones and districts of the city where 
they can furnish a more adequate and cheaper supply than distributors or deal- 
ers and where the latter have failed to effect economies through the consolida- 
tion and unification of delivery service and routes. 

Recommendation No. 4. The Legislature of the State of Illinois is requested 
to enact a law authorizing the city of Chicago and the other cities of the State, 
whenever the city is faced with actual or threatened deprivation of necessaries 
of life by reason of excessive profits or otherwise to engage in the public con- 
trol, supply and distribution of such necessaries of life in order to insure an 
adequate supply at a reasonable price to the consumer. If the present uncon- 
ti oiled commercial system of handling milk causes waste in the method of 
delivery, or opens the door to excessive charges due to private control, the 
community must be equipped with adequate power to find and adopt means 
whereby the burden thus unnecessarily and unjustly placed upon the consumer 
can be removed. Between excessive profits and the lives and health of little 
children, there can be but one choice and decision. 

Recommendation No. 5. The Legislature of the State of Illinois is further 
requested to enact a suitable law permitting the formation of co-operative asso- 
ciations and organizations of producers and consumers under the direction, 
supervision and regulation of the Illinois State Public Utilities Commission or 
other duly authorized department of the state government, whereby such co- 
operative associations and organizations may engage in the production, inspec- 
tion, standardization, sale, purchase, storage, marketing or distribution of milk 
and other food products; to divide the territory for the economic and efficient 
distribution of service and operation and to fix a price for milk and other food 
products when such price has been examined into and declared fair and reason- 
able to all interests affected by the State Public Utilities Commission or other 
authorized body. 

Recommendation No. 6. The Federal Food Administrator for the State of 
Illinois is hereby requested to provide a milk station or stations in the City of 
Chicago, either under the control of the federal government or of the City of 
Chicago, where small customers can be supplied. Such Food Administrator is 
likewise requested to devise ways and means for the sale of milk at milk stores 
and distributors' depots at a lower price to the consumer who may prefer this 
method of obtaining milk and thus save the cost of delivery. 

Recommendation No. 7. The Corporation Counsel of the City of Chicago 
is herewith requested to prepare an amendment to the ordinance prohibiting 
the use of milk bottles for purposes other than milk delivery and providing 
for their compulsory return to the distributor or dealer. 

Respectfully submitted, 

(Signed) WILLIS 0. NANCE, Chairman. 

Upon the submission of the foregoing report, Alderman Nance presented 
three orders, including an order authorizing the printing of the report in 
pamphlet form. The City Council thereupon approved the orders by the fol- 
lowing vote: 

Yeas — Coughlin, Kenna, Anderson, Schwartz, Iliff, Hickey, Doyle, McDon- 
ough, Nance, A. A. McCormick, Kimball, Fetzer, Cross, Woodhull, Block, John- 
son, McNichols, Klaus, Krumdick, Cullerton, Novak, Kerner, Home, Ahern, 
Smith, Maypole, Rodriguez, Kaindl, Kunz, Walkowiak, Healy, Touhy, Bowler, 
Powers, Fick, R. H. McCormick, Bauler, Ellison, Steffen, Wallace, Haderlein, 
Roeder, Link, Capitain, Pretzel, Watson, Kennedy, Adamowski, Littler, Byrne, 

14 



Hrubec, Pegram, Long, Rea, Fisher, Michaelson, Hazen, Toman, Thos. J. Lynch, 
Clark— 60. 

Nays — None. 

The orders as passed are as follows: 

ORDERED, That the report of the Committee on Health on the milk in- 
vestigation be published in the Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council; 
also 

ORDERED, That the City Clerk be and he hereby is directed to forward 
a copy of the report to the commission appointed by the Food Administrator of 
the State of Illinois, and which is now investigating the milk situation in 
Chicago; and be it further 

ORDERED, That the Municipal Reference Librarian be authorized to have 
printed two thousand copies of the report, the expense of same to be charged 
to the 1917 appropriation of the Committee on Health. 



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